Fort Myers FL
The Gateway Services District Board of Supervisors meeting scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled. There was no reason given. The topic of the meeting was to be Wetland 47. It was a "continuation" meeting from last week when the board did not have a quorum.
There was mass confusion the past few days over whether or not hold the meeting. It was canceled. It was not canceled. It was canceled again. Nobody is saying why but it appears there was more difficulty getting a quorum together. There was also never a meeting time and date posted on the G.S.D. website to announce to the public that a meeting was actually taking place to begin with.
We have also learned that another extension has been granted to Gateway by SFWMD. The district now has until June 1st to get all paperwork done for the permit. Two weeks ago the district and the Gateway Golf and Country Club came to an agreement on Wetland 47. Since then, the club has asked that 22 changes be made to the agreement written up by Gateway attorney Tony Pires.
Last week the board didn't have a quorum to discuss the issue. And with the Friday cancellation due to a lack of a quorum, the issue has been pushed back even further. SFWMD is in the process of issuing Gateway a permit for the Wetland. The Gateway Golf and Country Club is holding a Conservation Easement hostage. The district needs the CE before SFWMD will issue the permit.
To date, Wetland 47, a small swamp of weeds and bushes on the Golf Course has cost Gateway residents over $100,000. The Country Club authorized a contractor to conduct work on the Wetland, in which a tractor was illegally used, destroying part of the wetland, which led to an $11,500 fine and $90,000 in engineering and attorney fees. Gateway residents are paying those expenses because we are the permitee of the swamp even though the country club owns the land. It's Government at its finest.
